Printing apparatus

ABSTRACT

A printing apparatus is provided with a storage unit that is configured by a curved carrying route including first and second arc carrying routes which are sequentially connected to a carry-out side of a main carrying path along a sheet carrying direction, and the first and second arc carrying routes are arranged on upper and lower sides of a line component extending along a sheet carrying surface in a printing device.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority fromthe prior Japanese Patent Application No. 2009-063401, filed Mar. 16,2009, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a printing apparatus mounted in, forexample, an automatic teller machine.

BACKGROUND

This type of printing apparatus carries a sheet to a printing unit alonga carrying path and prints transaction information on the sheet. Inaddition, after printing, the sheet is discharged to a discharge unit soas to be received by a client. However, there may be a case where aplurality of the sheets are continuously carried to the printing unit soas to be printed. In this case, in order that the client may easilyreceive the sheets, the plurality of the sheets printed are temporarilystored in a storage unit in an overlapped state. Then, the stored sheetsare taken out of the storage unit at once to be discharged to thedischarge unit (for example, refer to JP-A-2007-156406).

However, in a related art, the printed sheets are dropped by their ownweight to be stored in the storage unit in a vertical direction.Therefore, a vertical space having a length of at least the sheet isneeded as the storage unit, so that there is a problem in that a greaterheight of the apparatus is needed.

SUMMARY

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, an object of theinvention is to provide a printing apparatus which enables a compactsize and can properly carry and store sheets without jamming.

According to an aspect of the invention, there is provided a printingapparatus including: a carrying device that continuously carries sheetsalong a main carrying path; a printing device that prints information onthe sheets which are continuously carried along the main carrying path;a storage unit that is configured by a curved carrying route includingfirst and second arc carrying routes which are sequentially connected toa carry-out side of the main carrying path along a sheet carryingdirection; and a pair of carrying rollers that nip and carry the sheetsthat are introduced sequentially in the storage unit while curving thesheets along the first and second arc carrying routes so as to be storedin an overlapped state, wherein the first and second arc carrying routesare arranged on upper and lower sides of a line component extendingalong a sheet carrying surface in the printing device.

Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth inthe description which follows, and in part will be obvious from thedescription, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objectsand advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means ofthe instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed outhereinafter.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute apart of the specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention, andtogether with the general description given above and the detaileddescription of the embodiments given below, serve to explain theprinciples of the invention.

FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically illustrating a configuration of aprinting apparatus according to an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of the printingapparatus in a state where a stopper of FIG. 1 is moved to an upstreamside of a second arc carrying route.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating third and fourth drive rollersand third and fourth pinch rollers of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a drive control system of theprinting apparatus of FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a state where a roll paper printed inFIG. 1 is sent from a main carrying path along a curved carrying routeand cut.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a state where the sheet cut in FIG. 5is carried and stored in the curved carrying route.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a state where the sheet following thesheet stored in FIG. 6 is sent to the curved carrying route.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a state where the following sheet ofFIG. 7 is stored in the curved carrying route.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a state where a plurality of the sheetsstored in the curved carrying route of FIG. 8 is being dischargedthrough a discharge opening.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating the sheet which is discharged throughthe discharge opening and left as is of FIG. 9.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a state where the sheet of FIG. 10 issent toward a recovery unit.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating a state where the sheet sent in FIG.11 is recovered by the recovery unit.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Exemplary embodiments of the invention will be described in detail withreference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a printing apparatusmounted in an automatic teller machine according to an embodiment of theinvention.

Reference numeral 1 in FIG. 1 denotes a roll paper loaded in a rollpaper loading unit 2. A front end portion of the roll paper 1 is carriedalong a main carrying path 3 drawn from the roll paper loading unit 2.In addition, a sheet is not limited to the roll paper, and a fanfoldsheet may be employed. A carry-out end side of the main carrying path 3is connected to a curved carrying route 28 as a storage unit that storesthe sheet curved to be carried. The curved carrying route 28 includes afirst arc carrying route 26 connected to the carry-out end side of themain carrying path 3 and a second arc carrying route 27 connected to acarry-out end side of the first arc carrying route 26.

On the main carrying path 3, along a sheet carrying direction, first andsecond printing units 5 a and 5 b, a cutter unit 6, and first and secondcarrying roller units 7 and 8 as carrying devices are sequentiallyarranged.

The first and second printing units 5 a and 5 b include platens 11 a and11 b opposed to each other with the main carrying path 3 interposedtherebetween and thermal heads 13 a and 13 b. The thermal heads 13 a and13 b are elastically biased toward the platens 11 a and 11 b by a headspring (not shown). The platens 11 a and 11 b are driven by a platendrive motor 14 so as to rotate. The cutter unit 6 includes a cutter 17and a cutter drive motor (not shown) that drives the cutter 17.

The first carrying roller unit 7 that nips and carries the roll paper 1includes a first drive roller 20 and a first pinch roller 21 which areopposed to each other with the main carrying path 3 interposedtherebetween. The pinch roller 21 is elastically biased toward the firstdrive roller 20 by a roller spring.

The second carrying roller unit 8 that nips and carries the roll paper 1includes a second driver roller 23 and a second pinch roller 24 whichare opposed to each other with the main carrying path 3 interposedtherebetween. The second pinch roller 24 is elastically biased towardthe second drive roller 23 by a roller spring. The first and seconddrive rollers 20 and 23 are driven by a first drive motor 51 so as torotate.

On a downstream side of the second drive roller 23, a flapper 25 biasedby its own weight or by a weak spring is provided. One end side of theflapper 25 is rotatably supported by a spindle 25 a, so that the flapper25 rotates in a vertical direction about the spindle 25 a to open orclose the carrying path.

On a downstream side of the flapper 25, the first arc carrying route 26is provided, and on the first arc carrying route 26, a third driveroller 29 and a fourth drive roller 30 are arranged. The third driveroller 29 and the fourth drive roller 30 are driven to rotate in normaland reverse directions by a second drive motor 52.

The third and fourth drive rollers 29 and 30 are respectively opposed tothird and fourth pinch rollers 33 and 34. The third and fourth pinchrollers 33 and 34 are pulled up by tension springs (not shown) so as tobe separated from the third and fourth drive rollers 29 and 30.

A cam 54 is provided near the third and fourth pinch rollers 33 and 34so that the third and fourth pinch rollers 33 and 34 are pushed down bythe rotation of the cam 54 via a plate spring (not shown). Accordingly,the third and fourth pinch rollers 33 and 34 respectively come incontact with the third and fourth drive rollers 29 and 30.

In addition, the cam 54 is rotated by a cam drive motor 55, and on thebasis of a degree of the rotation of the cam 54, the third and fourthpinch rollers 33 and 34 are weakly or strongly pressed against the thirdand fourth drive rollers 29 and 30 via a plate spring.

In the vicinities of the flapper 25 and a flapper 36 described later,first and second detection sensors 22 and 35 that detect a front endportion of the carried sheet are respectively arranged. The first andsecond detection sensors 22 and 35 detect the sheet and the cam 54 isrotated accordingly.

In addition, on one peripheral side of each of the third and fourthdrive rollers 29 and 30, as illustrated in FIG. 3, concave-convexportions 29 a and 30 a each of which has a double helical shapecontinuing along a circumferential direction are formed. Theconcave-convex portions 29 a and 30 a come in contact with the sheet andapply stable carrying forces to the sheet even if the third and fourthpinch rollers 33 and 34 come in contact with the third and fourth driverollers 29 and 30 with a weak force.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, on a downstream side of the fourth driveroller 30, the flapper 36 is provided, and a lower end side of theflapper 36 is rotated via a spindle 36 a. The flapper 36 is rotated inleft and right directions by a flapper drive motor 37. Accordingly, thecarrying route is switched between the second arc carrying route 27 anda recovery carrying path 46.

The above-mentioned second arc carrying route 27 is provided on adownstream side of the flapper 36, and a stopper 39 which comes incontact with the front end portion of the sheet that is being carried soas to be stopped is provided on the second arc carrying route 27. Thestopper 39 is supported by a lower end portion of a stopper arm 40, andthe stopper arm 40 is rotated in the normal and reverse directions by astopper drive motor 41 depending on a length of the sheet. The stopper39 moves along the second arc carrying route 27 due to the rotation ofthe stopper arm 40. That is, in a case of a long sheet, the sheet ismoved toward a downstream side of the second arc carrying route 27, andin a case of a short sheet, as illustrated in FIG. 2, the sheet is movedtoward an upstream side of the second arc carrying route 27 and is thenstopped.

A rotation center 40 a of the stopper arm 40 is positioned to be closerto the second arc carrying route 27 than a radial center of the secondarc carrying route 27. Accordingly, it is possible to increase a radiusof the second arc carrying route 27 and reduce a curvature of the sheetas much as possible, thereby preventing jamming of the sheet.

Moreover, in this case, since the radial centers of the stopper arm 40and the second arc carrying route 27 are different from each other, thestopper 39 and the stopper arm 40 are slid to vary a radius of thestopper 39.

On an inclined upper side of the second drive roller 23 provided on themain carrying path 3, as illustrated in FIG. 1, a fifth pinch roller 43is provided. The fifth pinch roller 43 is placed in contact with orseparated from the second drive roller 23 by a third drive motor 53.

A discharge opening (discharge portion) 44 that discharges the sheet isprovided above the second drive roller 23 and the fifth pinch roller 43,and the discharge opening 44 is opened and closed by a shutter 56. Theshutter 56 is operated by the third drive motor 53. Under the shutter56, a discharge detection sensor 58 that detects the sheet that is beingdischarged is provided.

In addition, on the recovery carrying path 46 switched by the secondflapper 36, a recovery drive roller 48 and a pinch roller 49 that isbiased by a spring so as to come in pressing contact with the recoverydrive roller 48 are arranged. Below the recovery drive roller 48 and thepinch roller 49, a recovery unit 50 is provided. The recovery driveroller 48 is driven by the second drive motor 52 to rotate.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a drive control system of theprinting apparatus.

The first and second detection sensors 22 and 35 and a dischargedetection sensor 58 are connected to a control unit 60 via a detectionsignal circuit. The platen drive motor 14, the first to third drivemotors 51, 52, and 53, the cam drive motor 55, the flapper drive motor37, and the stopper drive motor 41 are connected to the control unit 60via a control circuit.

The control unit 60 operates to drive the platens 11 a and 11 b, thefirst to fourth drive rollers 20, 23, 29, and 30, the recovery driveroller 48, the shutter 56, the pinch roller 43, the cam 54, the flapper36, and the stopper 39 on the basis of detection signals of the firstand second detection sensors 22 and 35 or the discharge detection sensor58.

Next, operations of the printing apparatus configured as described abovewill be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 5 to 12.

First, as illustrated in FIG. 1, in a state where a front end side ofthe roll paper 1 is nipped by the platens 11 a and 11 b and the thermalheads 13 a and 13 b, the platen drive motor 14 is driven. As the platendrive motor 14 is driven, the roll paper 1 is nipped and carried by theplatens 11 a and 11 b and the thermal heads 13 a and 13 b, andtransaction information is printed on front and rear surfaces of theroll paper 1 by heat of the thermal heads 13 a and 13 b. The printedroll paper 1 is nipped and carried by the first drive roller 20 and thefirst pinch roller 21 as illustrated in FIG. 5, and is then nipped andcarried by the second drive roller 23 and the second pinch roller 24.The front end portion of the carried roll paper 1 pushes up and passesthrough the flapper 25 and then passes through a gap between the thirddrive roller 29 and the third pinch roller 33 and a gap between thefourth drive roller 30 and the fourth pinch roller 34. Here, the thirdand fourth pinch rollers 33 and 34 are separated from the third andfourth drive rollers 29 and 30. When the front end portion of the rollpaper 1 is detected by the second detection sensor 35, the cam drivemotor 55 is operated to operate the cam 54. Accordingly, the platespring (not shown) is bent, so that the third and fourth pinch rollers33 and 34 come in contact with the third and fourth drive rollers 29 and30 by a weak pinch force so as to nip and carry the roll paper 1. Whenthe roll paper 1 is carried for a predetermined distance, it is cut bythe operation of the cutter 17 so as to be carried as a sheet P1. Here,the stopper drive motor 41 is operated such that the stopper 39 is movedalong the second arc carrying route 27 depending on a length of thesheet P1 via the stopper arm 40. The front end portion of the carriedsheet P1 comes in contact with the stopper 39 and stops as illustratedin FIG. 6. At this time, a rear end portion of the sheet P1 is at aposition that passes through the flapper 25.

After the first sheet P1 stops, by the same operation described above,the following roll paper 1 is nipped and carried by the platens 11 a and11 b and the thermal heads 13 a and 13 b, and transaction information isprinted on front and rear surfaces of the roll paper 1 by heat of thethermal heads 13 a and 13 b. In addition, the roll paper 1 is nipped andcarried by the first drive roller 20 and the first pinch roller 21, andis then nipped and carried by the second drive roller 23 and the secondpinch roller 24. Due to the carriage, as illustrated in FIG. 7, a frontend portion of the following roll paper 1 pushes up and passes throughthe flapper 25 and then passes through a gap between the third andfourth drive rollers 29 and 30 and the preceding sheet P1. Here, thethird and fourth pinch rollers 33 and 34 are separated from the thirdand fourth drive rollers 29 and 30 by a tensile force of the tensionspring. On the basis of the detection of the front end portion of theroll paper 1 by the second detection sensor 35, the cam drive motor 55is operated to operate the cam 54 and the plate spring (not shown) isbent, so that the third and fourth pinch rollers 33 and 34 come incontact with the third and fourth drive rollers 29 and 30 by a weakpinch force via the preceding sheet 21 and the following roll paper 1,while the carrying of the roll paper 1 is continued. When the roll paper1 is carried for a predetermined distance, the cutter 17 is operated tocut the sheet by the same length as that of the preceding sheet 21 so asto be carried as a sheet 22.

During the carrying of the sheet P2, the stopper 39 is in the stoppedstate as is, and as illustrated in FIG. 8, a front end portion of thesheet P2 comes in contact with the stopper 39 and stops. As the sheet P2stops, rear ends of the preceding sheet P1 and the following sheet P2are justified. When there are three or more sheets, similarly, thecarriage is repeated to print and store a predetermined number ofsheets.

Next, as described above, an operation of discharging the stored sheetsP1 and P2 will be described.

In this case, first, the third drive motor 53 is operated from the stateillustrated in FIG. 8 to open the shutter 56. Next, the cam drive motor55 is operated to rotate the cam 54 so that a degree of bend of theplate spring (not shown) increases to allow the third and fourth pinchrollers 33 and 34 to come in pressing contact with the third and fourthdrive rollers 29 and 30 so as to apply a strong pinch force. After thepressing contact, the second drive roller 23 is rotated in the normaldirection and the third and fourth drive rollers 29 and 30 are rotatedin the reverse direction. Accordingly, the sheets P1 and P2 on the firstand second arc carrying routes 26 and 27 are carried toward thedischarge opening 44 as illustrated in FIG. 9. When front ends of thesheets P1 and P2 in the carrying direction pass through the fifth pinchroller 43 and are detected by the discharge detection sensor 58 due tothe carriage, the third drive motor 53 is operated and the fifth pinchroller 43 comes in pressing contact with the second drive roller 23. Thesheets 21 and 22 are nipped and carried by the pressing contact andstopped at a time point when the front end portions thereof in thecarrying direction are carried out by a predetermined length from thedischarging opening 44. The sheets 21 and 22 of which the front endsides are discharged through the discharge opening 44 are received by auser. In addition, during the reception, in order that the user mayeasily pull out the sheets 21 and 22, the third and fourth pinch rollers33 and 34 are separated from the third and fourth drive rollers 29 and30 to be in an opened state, so that only the fifth pinch roller 43 isin a pinched state.

The sheets 21 and 22 carried out from the discharge opening 44 by apredetermined length are detected by the discharge detection sensor 58.In addition, when the detected state continues for a predetermined timeor longer, it is determined that the user does not take out the sheets21 and P2 from the discharge opening 44, so that the sheets 21 and 22are recovered.

When the sheets 21 and 22 are to be recovered, the third and fourthpinch rollers 33 and 34 come in pressing contact with the third andfourth drive rollers 29 and 30 so as to apply strong pinch forces, andas illustrated in FIG. 10, the sheets P1 and P2 are additionally carriedfor a predetermined distance in a discharge direction and are stoppedwhen their lower ends pass through the flapper 36. Thereafter, by theoperation of the flapper drive motor 37, the flapper 36 is rotated inthe left direction about the spindle 36 a so as to switch the carryingroute to the recovery carrying path 46. The second drive roller 23 isrotated in the reverse direction from this state, and the third andfourth drive rollers 29 and 30 and the recovery drive roller 48 arerotated in the normal direction. Accordingly, as illustrated in FIG. 11,the sheets P1 and P2 are carried downwards and sent to the recoverycarrying path 46, and as illustrated in FIG. 12, are sent to therecovery unit 50 so as to be recovered.

However, the first and second arc carrying routes 26 and 27 constitutingthe arc carrying route 28 are arranged in the vertical direction onupper and lower sides of a line component 66 extending along a sheetcarrying surface 65 in the first printing unit 5 a as illustrated inFIG. 1.

That is, an upper side from the line component 66 is used as anarrangement space of the first arc carrying route 26 and a lower sidefrom the line component 66 is used as an arrangement space of the secondarc carrying route 27, so that the first and second arc carrying routes26 and 27 can be arranged while being gently curved in the wide spaces.

Therefore, the sheet is carried in the first and second arc carryingroutes 26 and 27 while being gently curved, so that the sheets can beproperly carried and stored without jamming.

In addition, when both the first and second arc carrying routes 26 and27 are arranged in, for example, the space lower than the line component66, the first and second arc carrying routes 26 and 27 have to be curvedin the narrow space. In this case, the first and second arc carryingroutes 26 and 27 are significantly curved, and the sheets are alsosignificantly curved and carried, so that proper carriage cannot beexpected.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the storage unit isconfigured by the curved carrying route 28 including the first andsecond arc carrying routes 26 and 27, and the sheets P1 and P2 arestored in the curved state, so that the vertical height of the sheetstorage unit can be reduced, resulting in a compact size.

In addition, since the first and second arc carrying routes 26 and 27are arranged on the upper and lower sides of the line component 66extending along the sheet carrying surface 65 in the first printing unit5 a, it is possible to arrange the first and second arc carrying routes26 and 27 while being gently curved in the wide space. Therefore, thesheets can be carried in the gently curved state, so that it is possibleto properly carry the sheets without jamming.

Additional advantages and modifications will readily occur to thoseskilled in the art. Therefore, the invention in its broader aspects isnot limited to the specific details and representative embodiments shownand described herein. Accordingly, various modifications may be madewithout departing from the spirit or scope of the general inventiveconcept as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

1. A printing apparatus comprising: a carrying device that continuouslycarries sheets along a main carrying path; a printing device that printsinformation on the sheets which are continuously carried along the maincarrying path; a storage unit that is configured by a curved carryingroute including first and second arc carrying routes which aresequentially connected to a carry-out side of the main carrying pathalong a sheet carrying direction; and a pair of carrying rollers thatnip and carry the sheets that are introduced sequentially in the storageunit while curving the sheets along the first and second arc carryingroutes so as to be stored in an overlapped state, wherein the first andsecond arc carrying routes are arranged on upper and lower sides of aline component extending along a sheet carrying surface in the printingdevice.
 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the pair ofcarrying rollers are provided to be placed in contact with or separatedfrom each other so that the carrying rollers are separated from eachother when a front end portion of the sheet that is carried along thefirst arc carrying route passes through and after the front end portionof the sheet passes, come in contact with the sheet and nip and carrythe sheet.
 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a continuousconcave-convex portion is formed on an outer peripheral surface of anend side of one of the pair of carrying rollers along a circumferentialdirection thereof, and the concave-convex portion is brought intocontact with the sheet.
 4. The apparatus according to claim 1, furthercomprising a stopper which is provided in the second arc carrying route,moves along the sheet carrying direction depending on a length of thesheet, and comes in contact with and stops the front end portion of thecarried sheet.
 5. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein thestopper is provided on a rotation end portion of a stopper arm whichrotates about a spindle, and the spindle of the stopper arm is closer tothe second arc carrying route than a radial center of the second arccarrying route.
 6. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the pairof carrying rollers sequentially nip and carry the sheets and after thesheets are stored in the storage unit, are rotated in a reversedirection to send out the sheets at once.
 7. The apparatus according toclaim 6, further comprising a discharge unit that discharges the sheetssent out by the pair of carrying rollers at once.
 8. The apparatusaccording to claim 7, wherein the pair of carrying rollers are separatedfrom each other after the sheets are sent out through the dischargeunit.
 9. The apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the sheets arenipped and carried in the reverse direction by the pair of carryingrollers so as to be carried in and recovered when the sheets sent outthrough the discharge unit are left for a predetermined time.
 10. Theapparatus according to claim 9, further comprising a recovery unit thataccommodates the recovered sheets.